Pop Culture: A Cultural Revolution

February 3, 2018- December 2018

Harrington Changing Gallery

History

Step back to the beginning of the Cold War. Hear Winston Churchill on a Philco Radio warning of the Iron Curtain descending across Europe. Peek behind that curtain and see Soviet propaganda posters. Learn to duck and cover under a school desk with Bert the Turtle. Experience a fallout shelter designed for safety during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Meet heroes of the Civil Rights movement, including some of the first African-American students to graduate from WTAMU. Learn about soldiers from the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars as you see their uniforms and weapons. Finally, experience the jubilation that came with the fall of the Berlin Wall and look at a fragment of the structure that had divided a city, a country, and the world.

Popular Artand Counterculture

Through today’s eyes, The Big Bopper or Buddy Holly may not look rebellious, but consider the panic caused by Elvis’s hips on the Ed Sullivan Show and a revolutionary picture begins to emerge. Follow The Beatles career—from their slightly-shaggy appearance during the “Love Me Do” era to the Technicolor outfits and flowers of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Rock ‘n’Roll always had a rebellious streak.Experience it from the very beginning.

The counterculture’s critiques of Vietnam, Watergate, and the waning trust in America’s institutions were reflected in popular art as well. See a disillusioned Captain America abandon his WWII-era patriotic garb to become Nomad in Captain America #180.

From the ascent of rock ‘n’ roll to the birth of Harry Potter, see how the world shaped pop culture and how pop culture shaped the world in A Cultural Revolution.